Calvin took a breath. “So. If this is anything like the other day, the identity of this man may lead to him being a cold case suspect.”
“Wanted for murder,” I added.
“That Sebastian has to solve,” Quinn concluded.
Calvin swore, shaking his head. “Sebastian is not solvinganything. This has to stop.”
“Cal—”
“No,” he said over me. “You receive a threat, find a murdered person, solve it, only to be handed another threat. The cycle has to stop here and now.”
“Can I at least check the note?”
“What note?”
I pointed to the floor. “It was taped to his back.”
“And you touched it,” Calvin concluded.
I motioned with my hand. “Just a little.”
He let out a deep breath and reached into his pocket to pull out a pen. Calvin walked to the soggy, plastic sleeve on the floor, and crouched down beside it.
I followed him and got down, holding out my magnifying glass. “I don’t know how anyone read print so small back then,” I stated, getting low to the floor.
“What is it?” Calvin reluctantly asked.
“I think it’s a clipping from maybe a brochure?” I got onto my knees and leaned over the paper, since I knew Calvin would protest me touching it further. “A Mummy from Thebes,” I read aloud. “Which now presents itself to the visitor.”
“What’s that mean?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. Some of it is hard to make out—oh wait! It’s definitely P.T.-related. At the bottom of the paragraph, it thanks Mr. Barnum. Can you flip it over? Last time, there was a note on the back.”
Calvin reached out with his pen and turned the sleeve over. “Solve the murder, win a book.”
“Great,” I grumbled. “The last book I was involved with was quite enough, thank you.”
“What book would this be suggesting?”
I was thoughtful for a moment, considering the wording that described a mummy from Thebes and the small drawing that had appeared to be a bandaged body inside a coffin, although the quality wasn’t great. “I think it might beBarnum’s American Museum illustrated. It was a guidebook that patrons could purchase when they visited the museum.”
“It is rare?”
“Most definitely. The Library of Congress lists a copy as part of their Rare Book and Special Collections Division, if I recall. Plus, it covers in detail a number of the items that perished in the fire. Some we may have otherwise never known about. Newspapers of the time reported the death of live animals and the loss of artifacts belonging to the Founding Fathers, but there was so much more. Taxidermy—which you’d be surprised what that’s worth—Roman urns, Native American weapons, suits of armor—there’s even some advertisements for local businesses at the beginning. I love old ads.”
“You’re a walking encyclopedia, Seb.”
“It’s my job.”
“That it is,” Calvin said dryly. “And yet here you are.” He looked at me.
“Let me help,” I said quietly. “Whoever is behind this, they’re doing it to get my attention.”
“If I had been thirty seconds later getting to Ricky’s, you might not be here, baby.”
I swallowed. “Yeah, but—look, even when I was keeping my nose to the ground, someone blew my apartment up. This isn’t going to stop on its own, so let me do what I can.”
Calvin let out a held breath, not breaking eye contact.
